BlackBerrys Reportedly Getting Android Apps Support

Research in Motion is planning to make BlackBerry smartphones compatible with its Android apps in order to enhance its appeal.

When RIM launches BlackBerry smartphones powered by the QNX operating system software sometime next year, the software will be compatible with applications meant for Google’s Android platform, three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The company had earlier said that it plans to launch BlackBerry devices based on the new operating system early in 2012. RIM desperately needs new and attractive products if it wants to remain in the smartphone market.

RIM has lost a considerable amount of market share with the rise of Apple and Android, but its intentions to use Android to regain its market standing sounds like a good idea indeed.

“Being able to run Android apps, that’s a big plus. If you get the tonnage of Android apps and the top 50 apps through BlackBerry’s App World, that addresses many of the concerns people have about RIM’s ecosystem,” Raymond James analyst Steven Li told Bloomberg.

The problem with RIM has been that it moved to sluggishly to counter the advances made by iOS and Android. Long gaps in releasing smartphones and a non-existent app eco-system have done much damage to the company.